


dead man's face

by Alley_Walk (AlleyWalk_writes), Tod der Fata Morgana (AlleyWalk_writes)



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dimension Travel, F/M, Gen, M/M, Time Travel, Trans Allen Walker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-27 05:47:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20040907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlleyWalk_writes/pseuds/Alley_Walk, https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlleyWalk_writes/pseuds/Tod%20der%20Fata%20Morgana
Summary: Allen wakes up to a smell that is seared into his nightmares.The scent of blood and bamboo permeates his nostrils, the smell of burnt and destroyed flesh on the back of his tongue. The bamboo stalks around him cast long shadows against the moonlight above.Allen remembers staring at this moon, thinking he was going to die.He puts down his hand, and it lands in a cooling pool of blood.He turns and comes face to face with a dead man.And that face is his own.





	dead man's face

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all! 
> 
> So, this is yet another new fic of mine. It's sort of a spin on a really old fic of mine, Inadvertent Alternate. It was actually my first ever DGM fic. It sucked, but it was also what inspired my to try to be a better writer, and to always try to improve.
> 
> So, I've got a basic plan for this fic and am going to try to be a bit more realistic with the character interactions than I was in _(go back) To The Beginning_, because as much as I don't like conflict, characters aren't always going to agree.
> 
> Hope you enjoy! ^^
> 
> See you at the bottom!

**night one • the shock**

* * *

Allen wakes up to a smell that is seared into his nightmares.

The scent of blood and bamboo sears into his nostrils, the smell of burnt and destroyed flesh on the back of his tongue. He opens his eyes to find himself in near complete darkness, the bamboo stalks standing as sentry around him, casting long shadows against the moonlight above.

Allen remembers looking up at this moon as he slowly bled out, thinking he was going to die.

What was this? 

What was going on?

This... certainly wasn't the last thing he remembered.

He lifts his hand to look through the gaps in his fingers, before setting it down again. His hand lands in a cooling pool of blood, thick and congealed. 

Allen turns and comes face to face with a dead man.

And that face is his own.

* * *

Fou is wandering the forests of Asia Branch, munching on a stack of nuts she got from a Dove tree, wondering what everyone else is up to. _ I bet that Stupid Bak is already up to all sorts of trouble. He’s like a toddler, you can’t leave him alone for a second. _ Fou grouches to herself.

She stops in her tracks when she hears the sound of snapping bamboo reeds. Could there be a panda nearby? While pandas are usually passive, Fou believes it’s better to watch your step than to walk into situations blindly assuming you’re safe. Walking on silent feet, Fou creeps closer towards the noise. She’s not expecting what she finds.

There’s a teenager that’s about fifteen or sixteen with long white hair that goes down to his shoulders, deep brown skin, and some kind of mark on his face. In the darkness, she can’t make out his eyes. He’s snapping bamboo reeds and putting them on top of… Fou squints. Shit, is that _ a body? _ Ho-ly shit. Bak’s not gonna believe this.

But wait a minute. Fou looks over the young teen snapping bamboo reeds and goes over her mental description of the missing Exorcist that the Order has been looking for. White hair. Check. Deep brown skin. Check. A curse scar on his face. A solid maybe, she’d have to get closer to find out. She frowns. The description of the Exorcist had been of a fifteen year old of average height. This guy looks to be more around sixteen or seventeen, however.

And why isn’t he wearing an Exorcist coat?

Then she gets a good look at the body, and a chill runs down her spine.

White hair that’s matted with blood, with eyes that are glassy and look up to the sky to the moon and stars above. The moon illuminates his face. He’s young, and his curse scar stands out starkly against his deep brown skin, already going sallow and grey with death.

A deep uneasiness goes through Fou. What the fuck is going on here?

That doesn’t stop her from walking up to the older version and demanding, “you’re Allen Walker, right?”

The teen turns, and his eyes widen at the sight of her. He smiles. “Hey, Fou. It looks like you found me again.”

Fou blinks. What he just said makes no fucking sense. 

And Fou tells him so quite bluntly.

The maybe-Allen frowns. “You mean you don’t… recognize me?”

Fou’s eyebrows furrow. “No? Why should I recognize you? You famous or something?” Fou jokes, because in reality, there are rarely any Exorcists who are famous because of the time crunch they’re always on with their missions, but when they are, it’s usually a ploy to get more support and recognition for the Order.

Something like realization comes over maybe-Allen’s face, and he says, “no. Nevermind.”

“So,” Fou says, trying for casual, “what’s up with him?” She asks, gesturing to the younger-Allen’s body.

Maybe-Allen purses his lips, before he takes on a resigned expression. “I-I don’t really know. This isn’t what happened, last time.”

Fou frowns. What the hell does he mean, ‘last time?’ “What do you mean by that? What last time?”

There are so many conflicting expressions on Allen’s face that Fou can’t read them. He presses his lips in a thin line, his fists clenched. He lets out a breath and rubs at his eyes. “I don’t know. I don’t know. All I know is that I woke up here and now everything’s different than how it’s supposed to be. And you… you don’t remember me.”

Fou blinks. Looks from the seventeen year old Allen, to the fifteen year old Allen, lying dead on the ground.

Fou sighs. She’s not getting paid enough for this shit. Or at all.

“Alright, let’s take you to Bak. I’m sure he can figure this out.”

* * *

Ever since he and Fou had started heading towards Asia Branch, Allen had been doing some thinking.

Fou acts like he’s a complete stranger. Like she… doesn’t recognize him. 

And that other Allen… 

Arm gone.

Innocence gone.

Allen blinks as he feels something warm and empowering slip into place inside him. Things are starting to click into place. That Allen died, and Allen is here, in his place.

Whether time travel or something else, Allen doesn’t know.

Allen’s not sure he wants to believe it, but it’s the only logical explanation.

And there’s something else too.

With this knowledge, he could save everyone.

Stop everything before it all began.

First he has to start here. He doesn’t exactly want to tell everyone he’s from the future or an alternate dimension or whatever. But he thinks if he can trust anyone with this secret, it would be Bak.

Allen frowns. If this isn’t his dimension or his time or whatever, is this Fou really ‘his’ Fou?

Are his friends… really his friends?

Or will they be different then he remembers?

Allen’s will hardens.

_ No. No matter what, my friends will always be my friends. _

_ It’s just that… my friends here, might not be my friends. _

_ I guess… I’ll just have to wait and see. _

* * *

Bak Chan is in his office doing paperwork. Okay so he _ was _ doing paperwork. He got a bit… distracted.

“...and when we finally found Rikki, we found him huddled up in the pantry, quietly eating a piece of cheese. On that day we vowed never to allow coffee shortages again!” Bak says, grinning into the cellphone against his ear.

“Here, here!” Komui says with a laugh that makes Bak smile, and then Komui says, “did I ever tell you about the time Lavi and Allen-” He cuts himself off abruptly. Komui sighs.

“We’ll find him, Komui. Don’t worry.” Bak reassures. It pulls at his heart, this Exorcist. So young, only fifteen, going missing right at their front door. Bak had sent search parties out, and when they had come up with nothing he had sent more, and more. But there might come a time when they would have to stop searching. A fruitless search was a waste of resources. 

But Bak hopes it never comes to that.

“By the way, Hevlaska says that she felt a General Level Innocence accommodator emerge today.” Komui says, and Bak nearly spills his coffee.

“Really?” Bak says.

“Really-really~!” Komui sings, making Bak smile. 

Before Bak can continue the conversation, the door to his office is kicked open with a suddenness that no longer surprises him. Bak sighs. She could just use the doorknob like a regular person. He quickly hangs up with Komui as Fou walks into his office with a white haired teen in tow. 

A white haired teen… 

Bak frowns. He certainly fits the description of the missing Exorcist. But if so, why isn’t he wearing his uniform? Bak supposes it could have become too damaged to wear, but still… 

“Bak,” Fou gestures to the maybe Exorcist, “this is Allen Walker. Well, sort of.” Fou says with a slight grimace.

Bak’s face lights up. This is great. Komui will be so happy that he’s okay. “Great! Let me call off the search parties and tell Komui right away!”

He reaches for his phone only for Fou to put her amorphous hand on top of his. “Wait a second, Bak. You need to understand the full situation first.” 

Bak frowns. "What's there to understand?"

Allen steps forward with a polite smile on his face. "Hello, my name's Allen Walker, and I'm from the future." He pauses thoughtfully. "Or maybe an alternate dimension? I don't know, I haven't quite figured that out yet."

* * *

Bak places his hand on his chin thoughtfully. He had been surprised at first, and a bit disbelieving, but Fou and Allen had taken him out to see the body of the previous Allen, which was… pretty definite proof. As a scientist, he finds himself intrigued.

Still, he wants some definite proof from the man himself.

“Tell me something about both of us that you could only have known from knowing us personally. Or, I assume you did, if your story is true…” Bak says. 

Fou huffs in exasperation, however Allen only smiles. “Fou is a guardian spirit created by the sacrifice of your great-great grandfather, and she can turn her hands into blades. You’re head of Asia Branch and get hives when you’re embarrassed.”

Bak ‘hmms.’ He decides to ignore the last part of that sentence. “Well, you got most of that right. But there are a lot more ‘greats’ to that particular grandfather’s name. I mean, considering it’s the 21st century and all.” 

Allen’s eyes widen, however he quickly regains his composure, making Bak wonder if he had imagined the expression. 

“So, what happens next?” Bak asks, standing with a grin.

Allen blinks with a frown, clearly confused. Fou huffs. “In the timeline, idiot.” She says, interest clear in her voice.

Allen frowns, thoughtful. “I’m not exactly sure.” When Bak opens his mouth to protest, Allen holds up his hands. “Let me explain. In the original timeline, the man who had tried to kill me failed. However, he and the Earl soon learned of this, which makes me wonder if they will think that they failed this time as well.”

Bak frowns, keeping his horror that a fifteen year old had nearly been murdered and _ had _ been murdered in this timeline at bay. “By what means do they learn that you’re still alive?” The only thing he can think of is a spy, and he really wants to be able to trust in his Branch. He _ does _ trust in his Branch, and having that trust taken away… 

Allen taps his lips for a moment, then says, “I don’t know the specifics, but the man apparently had a card that had all the names of the people on his hit list. And when they were dead, the name would disappear. And I can only speculate that since my name did not disappear in the previous timeline, he knew I wasn’t dead.”

Fou frowns. “Was he a Noah?” She questions, storm clouds in her eyes. 

Allen sighs and nods. “Yes, he was.”

A seed of fear takes root in Bak’s heart, and he can’t fight off his uneasiness as he asks, “so, in the timeline, what happens next?”

Allen shrugs. “They send a Level Three Akuma after me.” Bak chokes on thin air. “But don’t worry. I can take care of those easily.” Allen reassures.

Bak nods, but he can’t fight back the uneasiness churning in his gut.

* * *

Tyki sighs, trying to stay perfectly still while Road applies a coat of glitter nailpolish to his fingernails. Why did he agree to this again? Oh, right. Road. She’s scary when she’s angry.

“There you go! Now let those dry, Tyki!” Road says, standing up from the couch to go put the nailpolish away. Tyki is sorely tempted to just wipe them off while she’s not looking, but he already has a layer of regular gold, and despite himself, Tyki doesn’t really mind.

“It’s not wiping off… It’s not wiping off…” Tyki looks down and, carefully, grabs the card out of his pocket. He still gets nailpolish on his pants. Damn. Road is going to kill him.

Looking inside the card with a sigh, Tyki asks, “what is it now, Jailkeeper?” 

“His name… It’s not wiping off!” Jailkeeper points, and Tyki squints and reads the name.

_ Allen Walker _

“What? But you did wipe it off, I saw you do it myself!” Tyki exclaims. Getting up off of the couch he glares at the Jailkeeper.

“It _ reappeeaared!” _ The Jailkeeper moans. 

“How interesting.” The Earl says from behind Tyki, and Tyki jumps. Tyki turns and meets his eyes to find the Earl with an intrigued expression on his face. He frowns. “Tyki, you must go and investigate.” The Earl pauses, smile widening. “Oh, and, make sure that whatever you find, is thoroughly crushed beneath your feet.”

Tyki smiles, a black top hat forming like smoke on top of his head as he reaches up to grab it and bows. “Why of course, Earl.”

And his smile widens.

**Author's Note:**

> So, is anyone curious about what happened to Allen to get him here?
> 
> Don't worry. You'll find out later.
> 
> Also, I sort of headcanon that Fou can walk the grounds surrounding Asia Branch, otherwise it wouldn't make sense that she would be able to stumble across Allen when after that she couldn't come out of Asia Branch unless she was summoned with a Summoning Stone. (Or maybe she can and she just wasn't there so Bak just had some weird summoning stone for some reason? The first option makes more sense to me considering that Fou's power is tied to the sacrifice of Bak's great-great however many great's grandfather).
> 
> Anyway, see y'all next chap!


End file.
